Understanding "Top Engaged Contacts"

[gbkindred]

Hi I have been using the free version of Hubspot to send marketing emails to my client lists for two and a half years. I am often encouraged by the multiple numbers of opens the Top Engaged Contacts shows. After seeding my list I realized the numbers are likely not real. I currently have an email in the field and the Top Engaged Contact shows 30+ opens, he is one of my seed and reports opening the email once. Can someone help me understand the numbers shown in the report?

[iamdecordiva]

Hi, 

I have the free version, and love that I can email my set client list every couple of months, just to stay front of mind. However, I just tried to do my latest mailout and it came back saying that it would be sent to "0" contacts. I'm not sure what I did, but I was trying to connect my webpage (I'm not very techy), so I think I **bleep** something up. Any ideas, so that I can get my emails going again?

[danmoyle]

Hey there @iamdecordiva. In the email settings, do you have this box checked:

That would mean that your list isn't engaging with emails. I'd uncheck that, and then conduct an audit of my email marketing to see why it's not engaging (if that's the answer). 

The other option is whether you're using marketing contacts (I don't recall if they're available in Free or not). If yes, then I would think your contacts are all turned to non-marketing contacts, which means you can't send marketing emails. 

I see we're talking Monday so hopefully we can uncover what's going on. 🙂

[danmoyle]

Hey there @gbkindred. Email opens is tricky. Especially in the era of iOS giving us as users the power over our data (a good thing personally, a diffiecult thing professionally). Opens can be measured by some email recipients by simply opening the email client on a phone. Or auto "opens" when they're recieved and the email client reads it for the data. So yes, a report that only focuses on the opens could be problematic, unfortunately. Measuring success by things like clicks, form fills, meetings booked or replies will begin to be more and more important as marketing and analytics (and privacy) continue to evolve. 

[kvlschaefer]

Hi @gbkindred,

Thanks for reaching out to the Community!

I would like to add some experts to our conversation.

Hi @danmoyle, @StjepanGrcic, @Josh, @Sam62, @AdamLPW, @jfreeman - Do you have any insight for @gbkindred on the Top Engaged Contacts report?

Thanks!

Best,

Kristen